Walsh set for first official visit to Ireland

By Bill Forry
August 1, 2014

Confirming plans first reported last spring, Boston Mayor Martin Walsh says he will make a ten-day visit to his parents’ homeland in September – his first visit to Ireland since his electoral victory last November made him the city’s first Irish-American mayor in two decades. Walsh’s visit will have a heavy Galway accent, including a side trip to Connemara to see cousins, with stops in Donegal, Derry, Belfast, and Dublin also on the schedule. He is tentatively scheduled to leave Boston on Sept. 19.

IFest Boston will showcase the ‘Best of Ireland’ at Seaport venue Sept. 26-28

By Bill Forry
August 1, 2014

Mayor Martin Walsh, IFest Boston founder Rachel Kelly and chef Barabara Lynch are key players in bringing September’s three-day festival to the Seaport/World Trade Center on Boston’s waterfront. Photo by Dan WatkinsMayor Martin Walsh, IFest Boston founder Rachel Kelly and chef Barabara Lynch are key players in bringing September’s three-day festival to the Seaport/World Trade Center on Boston’s waterfront. Photo by Dan Watkins

IFest Boston — a three-day festival that will gather the “Best of Ireland” in the heart of the city’s Seaport district —will take place at Boston’s Seaport World Trade Center from Sept. 26 to Sept. 28. The first-of-its-kind event is expected to draw big crowds to the waterfront venue to showcase the best of Irish food and drink, top musicians, and entertainers— all in an effort to draw more tourists back to Ireland and re-energize cultural and business ties between Boston and Ireland.

Canton to host GAA championships over Labor Day Weekend

By Sophie Gayter, Special to the Reporter
July 30, 2014
Sophie Gayter, Special to the Reporter

GAA North American Championships come to Canton this monthGAA North American Championships come to Canton this monthBoston’s Northeast Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) has been a focal point for the Irish community in the area for years. Offering locals the opportunity to play a variety of Gaelic sports including Gaelic Football and Hurling, the GAA has numerous teams in the Boston area in addition to teams who come from as far as Maine, New Hampshire, and Connecticut to participate in the Boston Northeast division.

The Northeast GAA season runs from April to Labor Day weekend, with between 140 to 170 games played each year. All games are played live on the grounds of the Irish Cultural Center in Canton and are very well attended by folks looking to connect with a piece of Ireland here in Massachusetts.

Senate President Murray invokes anti-Irish history in response to immigrant debate

By Matt Murphy and Michael Norton, State House News Service
July 29, 2014
Matt Murphy and Michael Norton, State House News Service

Emotions continue to run high over Gov. Deval Patrick’s offer to temporarily house children who illegally crossed the border into the U.S., but Massachusetts is no closer to getting an answer from the Obama administration on whether the federal government plans to take the state up on its offer.

“We don’t have very much information about when, if at all, there will be a shelter for the kids here,” Patrick told reporters on Monday.

Walsh plans ten-day visit to Ireland in September

By Bill Forry, Editor
July 21, 2014
Bill Forry, Editor

Mayor Martin Walsh: Will visit Ireland for 10 days in September.Mayor Martin Walsh: Will visit Ireland for 10 days in September.Confirming plans reported on last spring, Mayor Martin Walsh says he will make a ten-day visit to his parents' homeland in September – his first visit to Ireland since his electoral victory last November made him the city's first Irish-American mayor in two decades. Walsh’s visit will have a heavy Galway accent, including a side trip to Connemara to see cousins, with stops in Donegal, Derry, Belfast, and Dublin also on the schedule. He is tentatively scheduled to leave Boston on Sept. 19.

“The overall goal of this trip is to support Boston's economic development through building relationships and strengthening our commercial and cultural link with Ireland,” said Kate Norton, a spokesperson for the mayor.



The visit will certainly come with ceremonial trappings, including meetings with local officials. But Walsh will also schedule "down-time" for private visits with relatives at both the beginning and end of his trip. The journey was initially planned for the spring, but Walsh decided to wait until he was settled into office for a longer period of time.

Prosecutors: Injured Cork student was left to die outside Brighton bar

By Bill Forry, Editor
July 9, 2014
Bill Forry, Editor

A 20 year-old University of Cork student who was visiting Boston for a work program this spring was left to die in a Brighton alleyway after bar workers dumped him out the back door of a Cleveland Circle watering hole in May, according to prosecutors. The owner of the bar, 44 year-old John Rogaris, is now under indictment for stonewalling a police investigation into how the young man was hurt in the May 23rd incident.

If you’re passing by, stop in and you’ll see: Great dining abounds on Ireland’s West Coast

By BostonIrish.com... (not verified)
July 2, 2014

By Judy Enright
Special to the BIR

Ireland has changed a lot in the past 30 years. Much of that change is probably thanks to – or the fault of – the internet, depending on your perspective. But, changes can also be credited to the country’s many visitors who demand the best, to the Irish who travel widely and bring home creative ideas from everywhere, and to the influx of foreigners living in Ireland.
Frequent travelers will note the many changes, subtle and otherwise.

GREAT FOOD

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He’s immersed in history and the arts scene

By R.J. Donovan
July 2, 2014
R.J. Donovan

By R. J. Donovan
Special to the BIR

For a relatively young guy, Michael Duncan Smith has developed an unusually deep understanding of history.  He also has a passion for the performing arts.  Happily, the Westford native has found a unique way to satisfy both interests.
Most days you’ll find him at New Repertory Theatre in Watertown where he serves as marketing and public relations director.  However, when the weekend arrives, he can often be found portraying a Colonial Minuteman – an experience he describes as “living history.”

Much ado as festival makers strut stuff

By Sean Smith
July 2, 2014
Sean Smith

Kathleen Parks and Ricky Mier of the band Cat and the Moon share a duet during the Boston Irish Festival music weekend. Sean Smith photoKathleen Parks and Ricky Mier of the band Cat and the Moon share a duet during the Boston Irish Festival music weekend. Sean Smith photo

Dancers small, tall, and in between swarmed the Irish Cultural Centre of New England campus June 14 for the second Boston Irish Festival Feis, a day of Irish step dance competitions that attracted some 450 participants of various ages and levels from across the Northeast, as well as from Toronto, South Carolina, and even New Zealand.
Co-organized with the Harney Academy of Irish Dancing, the Feis was the third of three consecutive weekend Boston Irish Festival events celebrating popular Irish pursuits at the Canton-based ICCNE, which is marking its 25th anniversary. On May 31, the festival featured a day of sporting events – notably hurling and Gaelic football – and children’s activities. The middle portion of the festival, June 6-7, showcased top-line Irish/Celtic acts Black 47, The Screaming Orphans, and Eileen Ivers & Immigrant Soul, as well as numerous musical performers from the Greater Boston area and elsewhere in the region.
Misty, murky weather greeted the Feis, and a steady, 45-minute drizzle at mid-day posed a potential threat to the styled hair and make-up sported by some of the competitors. But most of those present, being pretty experienced in matters of feis, seemed unperturbed by the damp and focused on the task at hand – although a number of younger dancers found the temptation of the center’s playground facilities irresistible.

Bostonia Public House: ‘elegant renewal’ near Faneuil Hall

By Bill Forry, Editor
July 2, 2014
Bill Forry, Editor

A who’s who of Boston business leaders— with a heavy dose of Irish-American heavies – packed the city’s newest hot-spot near Faneuil Hall last week. The opening of Bostonia Public House – located in the Board of Trade Building on State Street – was hailed as a “elegant renewal of a classic Boston meeting space.” The restaurant and bar replaces the Irish pub Kitty O’Shea’s, but is bigger and American-themed.

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